Exposed
by omens
Summary: “In case you forgot, I paid quite a bit for you once, and I’d like to get my money’s worth.” [SpinnerEllie]
1. Chapter 1

**Name: **Chris

**Title: **Exposed

**Genre: **General/Romance

**Rating: **M

**Summary: **Never, not in a million years, would I have imagined running into you here.

Mild Spoilers

_**A/N: I just want to say first off that this entire thing is the result of a conversation I had with Eva (Evablue) the other night about the upcoming spoilers. So when you realize just how nuts I am, remember, I was heavily encouraged. : )**_

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

"Nash!"

Ellie's head snapped up, a groan bitten back when she realized that the person yelling at her was her editor, Nina.

"Yes?" she asked icily.

Nina smirked. Ellie's dislike was obvious, as was her own, but she enjoyed having authority over the younger girl.

"Your article is late. Again," the brunette snapped. "Do you want to stay on this staff or not?"

Ellie fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Nina would love any reason to kick her off the paper and she knew it … all because Ellie had dated Jesse once. How was she supposed to know that Nina hadn't been over him?

"I put my article on your desk yesterday," Ellie told her calmly.

Secure in the knowledge that she had the upper hand, Nina smiled smugly. "I assigned you an article on the recent surge in rumors of underage students working in bars around the city. This," she placed Ellie's article on her desk with a flourish, "is a story about the raise in cafeteria prices."

"I told you I didn't want that story," Ellie reminded her.

Nina placed a hand on either side of Ellie's laptop, leaning over so her face was uncomfortably close. "Despite my personal feelings, Ellie," she said softly, "you're one of the front runners to be editor next year. I highly suggest you not piss me off."

A deep sigh escaped Ellie as Nina walked away. She was right; as much as Ellie hated to admit it. The exiting editor chose their replacement from the remaining staff and with Nina leaving in just a few weeks, the competition had reached a fever pitch.

And Ellie **really** wanted to be editor.

She pulled her list of contacts and sources from the bar story out of her desk drawer, shaking her head. Underage bartenders? She knew Nina hated her, but this was just low. Even for her.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

"So," Ellie asked brightly, "have you heard anything about underage kids working in bars?"

Spinner choked on his water, spluttering at Ellie across the table.

"Interesting choice of dinner conversation, El," Marco quipped and handed Spinner a napkin.

She shrugged, offering an apology. "I'm at a complete loss on this story."

Having resigned herself to the fact that doing this article was just something she would have to do, Ellie had figured that Spinner may be able to help her. His moving into the third bedroom after high school when Dylan left to 'find himself' had proven useful in not only keeping Marco's mind off it, but having a cop under the same roof had been a huge help when it came to details of stories others on the staff hadn't been able to get. So naturally, she had been hoping that Spinner would know something about the rumors.

Once he stopped coughing, Spinner gazed at her across the table. "Huh?"

Repressing her smart alecky comment at Spinner's usual lack of eloquence, she repeated the question, tossing in Nina's comments and her own lack of enthusiasm for the assignment.

"I think it could get you the job," Marco said, "This could be a huge break for you, if it's true that is."

"I don't know," Spinner interjected, "it could all just turn out to be nothing more than rumors."

"Maybe," she sighed, "but I just get the feeling that if I don't get this story, I won't get the job."

Spinner stood from the table, taking a final bite of the spaghetti Marco had fixed for dinner. "I gotta go, I'm on stake out tonight," he told them as he pulled a heavy black bag from the chair beside his, "but if I hear anything, El, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Spin," she replied warmly.

He nodded and headed out, leaving her and Marco with cleanup as usual.

"What's with that bag?" Marco mused as they did the dishes. "He's been taking it with him every night this week when he leaves."

"He's on a stakeout, Marco," she replied, "Knowing Spin, it's comics or spray cheese or … something."

"Probably," he conceded with a sigh.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

"Ellie here," she said abruptly into her phone. Anything was better than the frustration of the evil article. 

"Hey, uh, Ellie," a voce said on the other end.

"Who is this?" she asked, not recognizing the number or the voice on the other end.

"You don't know me," the voice, male and deep said, "but I heard you were asking around about, you know, bars and working there, underage, a few weeks back."

Immediately her ears perked up, causing her to close her laptop to give the guy her undivided attention. "Heard from whom?" The only person she had actually asked outright was a guy who worked in the sports bar a block off campus. Everybody said he was the one to go to if you needed anything; especially the less than legal things.

"I just … there's this club …" he stuttered nervously, the audible nerves a sharp contradiction to the gritty voice, "on 12th and Vine … you should check it out." With that the line went dead, the dial tone sounding harsh against her ear.

Her phone dropping to the bed, she opened her computer back up, typing in the street names the guy had given her, ignoring how creepy it was that some random guy had gotten a hold of her cell phone number.

Ellie scrolled trough the list of businesses located on the streets, vetoing each one that sounded like a respectable business. Soon only three names persisted; The Chain, Rudy's Pub, and Club Haze.

Grabbing her jacket and car keys, Ellie dashed downstairs and out the door. There was only one way to find out.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

Ellie groaned her deep frustration as she neared the squat grey building at the end of the long street, stepping over a pothole in the cracked concrete. The Chain and Rudy's had both been dead ends, one a biker bar and the other an Irish pub inhabited by the elderly and inebriated.

'_This had better be the place.' _

Even a few feet away, Ellie could hear the thudding of a heavy bass line, and the feel of it reverberated in the other wise empty neighborhood. She saw a line -all female- outside the front door, ranging from teenager girls in ripped jeans and cropped tops to middle aged women in way too expensive shoes and suits.

But the thing that really drew her attention was the complete lack of men in the group.

The music grew louder and more rhythmic as she joined the line, pulling her jacket tighter around her to shield against the biting wind. The pulsating tone was eerily familiar, like something she had heard before but couldn't quite place.

The inside of the club was dark, yet sparkly, with multi colored beams reflecting off the several disco balls suspended from the ceiling and casting shadows on the metallic surfaces throughout the club.

Like the long catwalk set up down the middle of the room, lit up by near blinding lights all up and down the sides. And there, in the center at the floor to ceiling metal pole, was a man, barely dressed in what looked to be a cowboy outfit, dancing.

Dancing.

'_Oh. My. God.'_

A strip club. A **male** strip club to be exact. Which explained the lack of male patrons and why her mystery caller hadn't been keen on sharing details.

"Evening, Miss."

Ellie whirled, seeing a very tan, very buff, guy wearing just black pants and a bowtie standing next to her with a tray. A blush spread furiously across her cheeks and she averted her eyes quickly.

"May I show you to a seat?" he asked, hi voice dripping with false charm.

She nodded, not trusting her voice to stay level. It wasn't often Ellie Nash found herself in such close quarters with a half naked man in public.

He waved his arm, directing her toward the bar at the back of the club, and led her through the mass of giddy women and partially clothed men.

"If you need anything," the host whispered in her ear, "just ask Raul here." He tipped his head toward the bartender, who grinned lecherously at Ellie. She quickly lowered her eyes to the mahogany wood in front of her.

Ellie ordered a water, scanning the room for anyone who looked to be less than legal. Applause erupted, signaling that the now almost entirely naked cowboy on stage was finished. The man who had seated her came up on the stage, seemingly oblivious to the whistles and catcalls being hurled at him.

"All right ladies," he announced into the microphone in his hand, "let's have another hand for Cowboy Wayne."

Wayne bowed deeply off to the side of the stage to more whistles and disappeared behind a heavy black velvet curtain. It billowed out, giving her a glimpse of more people behind it. Wayne having departed, left the host once more at the center of attention. "Now," he announced, "let's have a warm Club Haze welcome for our newest dancer, Officer Jim."

The lights dimmed, shadowy figures exchanging places on the stage, the first chords of a loud techno song beginning.

At once, the lights rose and illuminated the 'officer.'

Ellie hadn't been able to watch the cowboy dancing, her embarrassment getting the best of her. But with this guy … she couldn't seem to drag her eyes away.

He was … good. His movements were smooth, sensual, and more controlled than the almost jerky actions of the previous dancer. She sat, hypnotized, as the cheaply made button down shirt was carefully removed, his back to the enthralled audience. Next came the hat, thrown off into the far corner, finally shedding some light on his face.

As he moved around the pole in a perfectly polished sequence, shedding article after article of clothing, the silence of the captive women was transformed into a near frenzied pitch of squeals and screaming. Finally, as the song neared its end, he took the pole, flipping his sunglasses off into the crowd and spun around it.

Ellie's mouth dropped open in shock, the heat returning to her face in full force as he stopped moving, his dark brown eyes locking onto hers from the catwalk.

It was Spinner.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

_**Told you. : )**_


	2. Chapter 2

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Ellie sat patiently at the bar and swirled her straw around in her drink while she waited for Spinner. She knew he would come find her as soon as possible. So she sat, a huge grin on her face, and waited.

She knew he was close before he actually reached her. Several of the very tipsy women around her straightened up, fussing with their hair and adjusting their clothes, and struck what she assumed were supposed to be seductive poses. It was all Ellie could do not to burst out laughing.

A warm, somewhat sweaty, hand landed on her shoulder and her already huge grin broadened even further.

"Evening, Officer," she cooed as she swung around on her barstool.

The scowl on Spinner's face, coupled with the remains of his 'uniform,' caused a snort to break free from her lips, and Ellie clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed.

She shrugged. "I got a tip. And you?"

Ellie waggled her eyebrows suggestively and his entire face flushed a deep red. "Oh right," she said, "It's obvious what you're doing."

Spinner leaned closer to her, giving off a faint smell of sweat and aftershave that she had to admit wasn't half bad. "I'm undercover, Ellie."

She spied a few of the women around them throwing dirty and envious looks her way and the very inappropriate urge to rub it in came into her head. Deciding to play it up to its fullest advantage, she took hold of the tie Spinner had slung over his shoulder and rubbed it idly between her fingers.

"Not under very much, are you?" she teased.

"You're not funny," he muttered, a small pout forming on his face.

"Sorry," Ellie told him. "Never figured a guy who wears a thong would be so touchy."

Something close to a growl escaped Spinner's throat and he wrapped a firm hand around her upper arm, tugging her away from the bar. The dimly lit hallway off to the side of the club seemed to him to be the perfect place, for he came to an abrupt halt and shoved her up against a wall.

"Ellie, these are not people you want to mess with," he warned in a low voice. "They're dangerous and you could get hurt if they figure out what you're up to."

"What about you? You don't think a cop is a bigger threat than a college reporter?" she shot back.

"I can handle myself. It's you I'm worried about," Spinner said with sincerity coating his words.

The lights from the club bounced in and out of the small space they were in, casting eerie shadows over Spinner's face hovering above hers, the bizarre situation making her heart thud in time with the pulsating hip hop rhythm of the song. Ellie licked her lips subconsciously in the grip of nerves plaguing her that she couldn't explain.

"Spin," she fought to keep her voice calm, "if I don't get this story, I can kiss editor goodbye."

"If you get caught you can kiss your pretty little head goodbye," he told her.

"Hey!" Somebody yelled from the end of the hall, drawing both of their attention to the fact that they weren't alone. Heavy footsteps, obviously belonging to a very large man, drew closer to their location. "Who's back here?"

"El," Spin whispered urgently, "go with me on this."

Before she had a chance to ask what he meant by that, Spinner pressed her further into the wall and himself against her, and dropped his head to her neck, sucking gently.

"Oh!" she gasped, more out of shock than anything.

Her hands still pinned to her sides, Ellie was helpless under his assault and squirmed at the beginnings of a hickey she felt forming at the base of her throat.

A flashlight shone in her face over the outline of Spinner's head, and he jerked back from her abruptly. Her hands now free, Ellie rushed to smooth out her clothes and hair from the impromptu mussing.

"Oh, Jim. Hey," the bouncer said once he recognized Spinner. "Didn't realize it was you, man."

He leered at Ellie, taking his time raking over her form. She turned her head to the side, embarrassment making her blush hotly. And Spinner made no move to show he even noticed.

"Hey," he threw back. "Sorry, dude. I know I'm not supposed to have company back here, but you know how it is …"

The guy grinned, nodding his understanding and turned to leave without another word.

Once he was gone, Ellie smacked Spinner as hard as she could on his arm indignantly.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Ellie's mouth dropped open in surprise at his obliviousness. "First, for mauling me, and second, for letting that … that … Neanderthal think we were back here …"

He cut her off abruptly. "Women don't come here for polite conversation, Ellie. I let him think that so neither of us would get busted."

'_Polite conversation?'_

She chewed on her lower lip in concentration as she mulled that over. When it finally occurred to her what he was implying, she felt heat flood her face once it dawned on her.

"You mean … you're a _hooker_?" Ellie exclaimed.

"No," he said abruptly. "Some of the women who come here like to pay for certain things, but it's optional."

"So that's why you're here? To bust some kind of high-class male prostitution ring?" she said.

He nodded in confirmation. "Basically."

Ellie let that run around in her head. This could turn out to be a bigger story than she had originally planned on. Underage bartenders were one thing … hookers would most definitely guarantee her the editor job.

"So please don't come back here," he pleaded. "This is serious stuff."

Ellie smiled at him widely and brushed her hair away from her face, noting the way his eyes fell to the mark he had made on her skin. Spin took an involuntary step back at the motion. She was making him nervous and she could tell.

"Just try and stop me."

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

Ellie wandered into the kitchen later that night after Marco was asleep. She had headed straight up to her room the second she got home, knowing she couldn't lie to him and not wanting to be interrogated about the hickey she indeed now possessed on her collarbone thanks to Spinner.

Upon thinking of the offending mark, she rubbed at it angrily and then Spinner walked in through the back door as if the action had summoned him.

"Hey, Hot Stuff," she teased.

Spinner let his black duffel bag fall into one of the kitchen chairs and glared at her. "What is it gonna take to keep you out of Haze?"

Ellie shook her head furiously. "Don't even try it, Spin. This story could be huge. There's no way I'm going to pass it up."

He collapsed heavily into another chair, rubbing his hands over his face tiredly. For he first time that night, Ellie felt the humor of the situation let up and she saw the whole situation from Spinner's eyes.

"Spin," she sat across from him and placed her hand over his on his face. He lowered it and she squeezed it comfortingly, "I don't want to complicate things for you. Honestly, I don't. But Nina as much as confirmed my getting editor hinges on this story."

He sighed and nodded. "Ellie … these are not people you want to make angry. They won't hesitate to kill you if they figure out what you're doing."

"And you?" she questioned. "What if somebody down there discovers you're really a cop?"

"I'm trained to handle this kind of stuff," he stated.

"What? Do you hide your gun in your g-string?" she asked, the teasing returning to her voice.

Spinner's face darkened at her mockery. "Funny."

"Oh, come on. You have to admit there is a very comical aspect to all this," Ellie said.

"It's not like I'm enjoying this."

Ellie sat back in her chair, arms crossing over her chest, posture conveying her challenge to his statement. "You honestly expect me to believe that Spinner Mason gets absolutely no enjoyment of having dozens of women drooling at his feet? At all?"

A glint of thought appeared in Spinner's eyes while he mulled her question over. And when his expression turned somewhat sheepish, she knew she had him.

"So I was right. You're getting a kick out of this, aren't you?"

His hands went up in defeat. "Okay, okay. I admit it; it's a bit of an ego boost having all those women wanting me."

After her laughter subsided, Ellie's face grew serious. "How did this even happen?"

"We got a tip a few weeks ago when this college kid turned up dead in an alley a few blocks away from the club. After some digging, we discovered he worked there and what was going on. The guy who owns the club, his name is Dominic Antonelli. He's bad news, El. Serious mob ties," Spinner leaned in closer to her as if there was someone that could possibly overhear the intimate details of the case he was telling her. "We're talking drugs, guns, trafficking …"

Ellie gulped involuntarily. There were few things that could cause Spinner's voice to take on the cold tone it held now; empty and emotionless and it terrified her.

"You're scared," she whispered, not even noticing the way her hand fell back over his or how he entwined their fingers like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I'm scared for you," Spinner's gaze fell to the stretch of table between them and his breathing became noticeably rougher.

"Why?"

A wan smile worked his lips out of their frown, even though his eyes never made it up to hers. "I've gotten to know you pretty well the past couple years, El. You're not going to drop this. And if something happened to you …" She squeezed his fingers within hers. "I don't think I'd be able to live with myself."

"Well then," she stated matter of factly, "I guess we're just going to have to work together."

…0...0...0...0...0...0...


	3. Chapter 3

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"So tell me exactly how all of this happened?" Ellie sat a cup of tea in front of Spinner who wrinkled his nose at it. Ellie had been trying to turn him into a tea drinker since he'd moved in and it still wasn't working. But he sipped politely anyway.

He sighed. It appeared that Ellie was intent on this plan of hers. And nothing could dissuade Ellie Nash from doing something she had set her mind to. He wasn't deluded enough to think otherwise. "Well," he began, "one day this kid walked into the station and asked to speak to our Chief of Detectives. He told him about the club, that he was working there and was 16-"

"16?!" Ellie demanded. "Oops, sorry. Go on."

"Well apparently, the hooking part is new. Or the suggestion from Antonelli is new. Some rich older lady that was married to this big time lawyer from Montreal came up to him and offered him a huge amount of money for a night with one of the newer dancers at the time. Antonelli agreed and she kept coming back. When she finally got to this kid, he said no and Antonelli had his goons beat him up." Spinner explained. "That was when he quit and he came to us for protection."

"Wow," she whispered. "That poor kid." So this was more complicated than she had originally thought. There was more going on here than guys looking for easy money and a quick way to hot girls. She had never imagined mob enforcers.

"So now do you get why I want you to drop this?" he asked. The look on his face was no longer as grim as it had been when he'd first gotten home but there was definitely still the determination to keep her as far away from the situation as he could. "It's dangerous, Ellie."

She sighed. "Spinner-this could make my career. I'm talking far beyond editor here. No other reporter in the city has an in on this like I do. Please," She took hold of one of his hands and squeezed it, "let me help you."

His lips quirked. She was wearing him down, she could tell. "Come on, Spin. I'll owe you one."

"Well … when you put it like that." He grinned at her briefly. "If I tell you something you have to listen to me, okay?"

"Such as?"

"Such as; if somebody starts to get suspicious of you or me and I tell you to leave as fast as you can. I don't want any arguments. Cause if I get you shot Marco will kill me."

She laughed. "Nice, Spin."

"Those are my terms," he stated flatly and crossed his arms over his chest.

Ellie made a face at him, causing him to smirk. She brushed her hair out of her face and pulled a pad of paper out of her bag. If they were going to do this-they were gonna do it right.

"So," she said brightly, "details please."

"What kind of details?" This was a potentially dangerous situation. Ellie had her snooping notebook out. He had looked in it once when she was in the shower. There were all kinds of juicy gossip about her various stories in there. And now he was going in it.

She uncapped her pen and grinned at him. She was enjoying this far too much for his liking. "For starters you can tell me how you ended up with this assignment out of all the cops in the station. Surely there's someone there more experienced in undercover operations."

"I'm the only one young enough to pass for underage and happens to be single," he told her. "Believe me; I was not thrilled about getting stuck with it."

"Uh-huh." Ellie muttered under her breath.

"You think I like dancing around in my underwear in front of a bunch of rowdy women?" he asked.

Ellie snorted. "How did you ask that question with a straight face?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Spinner glowered at her, offended.

Putting her pen down on the paper in front of her, Ellie pursed her lips in order to stop the smirk threatening to break through and onto her face. "Spin, I've known you for a long time. And you may have grown up since you joined the police force, but you're still you."

"Meaning?" His eyebrows rose in a dare. This ought to be good.

She smirked. "Meaning; that the Spinner I know would never pass up the opportunity to have a gaggle of women ogle him. Now matter how mature he's gotten."

He thought on that for a minute. True, the first few times had been unbelievably nerve racking to say the least. But once the nerves began to dissipate, it had been kind of fun-when he could forget that there was a mob boss watching him to make sure everything remained like it should. Meaning shady and illegal.

Before he had a chance to answer, Ellie picked her pen back up and fixed what he and Marco had dubbed her 'serious journalist face' on him. "Well then, what about the name? 'Officer Jim' is a pretty bland choice. Isn't that kind of like calling attention to yourself-Officer?"

He grinned at her and got up to get Marco's secret stash of Ben & Jerry's out of the back of the freezer. Retrieving two spoons, he sat back down at the table and handed her one. He pushed the mug of tea away, ignoring her glare, and pried open the lid.

"What can I say?" he mumbled over his mouth full of Chunky Monkey, "It just kinda came to me."

She grimaced at his table manners which no amount of her or Marco's prodding could change and took her own bite. "But Jim? That's not really original-hang on!" She sat up straighter and eyed him suspiciously. "That wouldn't happen to be short for Jimmy, would it?"

Eyes on his spoon, he replied, "I couldn't run the risk of hem doing a background check on me only to discover that the only Gavin Mason in Toronto is a cop."

"So you gave them Jimmy's name?" She burst into a fit of giggles, covering her mouth only to then snort at the absurdity of the situation. "What if they find out that Jimmy Brooks was shot and paralyzed at the age of 17? How would you explain your smooth moves then?"

He raised his hand, his index finger extended into the air and reached into his back pocket. Spinner pulled his wallet out and handed it to her. Low and behold, there was a driver's license bearing his photo and the name James Brooks on it.

"The beauty of the plan," he said as he put his wallet back into his pocket, "is that Jimmy's birthday isn't for a few more months. Add in the super rich parents with who have flown him all over the world looking for a cure to his paralysis, he's pretty much the perfect cover. I know his birthday, address, everything."

"And you just look so much like him too," she quipped.

"We have the best hacker in the city. Let's just hope Jimmy doesn't need anything that requires his photo to be looked up any time soon." Spinner shrugged, tugging the tub of ice cream towards himself.

She pulled it back. "Shouldn't you be watching you figure?"

A slow, lazy grin spread over his face. "That's what I have my adoring public for." Off her skeptical expression he add, "Oh yeah, I saw you look. Before I realized it was you. I thought you were just another dazed girl at first."

Ellie flushed hotly. "I didn't know it was you either."

Chuckling, he devoured a particularly large bite. "But you still looked."

Ellie pointedly ignored his pleased grin and scribbled in her notebook. "Explain to me the moves. Last time I saw you dance … well, lets just say it wasn't pretty."

He grimaced. "The Chief's wife is a dance teacher and just happens to take strip-aerobics."

"Oh." She bit her lip to keep the laughter contained under his scrutiny. It was almost like he was daring her to. "Well, if we're going to do this, we need to decide exactly how to get the quality dirt."

Ellie's stomach flipped when Spinner's face took on a somewhat guilty, shifty expression. "I uh, I think I have an idea," he said.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

Ellie set her eyeliner down on her vanity and inspected her makeup. Not bad. A little heavier than she usually wore but she was going for a look here. She needed to look like the type of well-heeled society girl out for a cheap thrill in a way too expensive dress.

Deciding her sultry eye makeup was sufficient; she piled her wavy hair on top of her head and secured it with two lacquered chopsticks. Her strappy stilettos fastened, she stood and took in her appearance in the full length mirror on the back of her bedroom door.

"Holy cow," she whispered. She did not look like the Ellie Nash she was used to seeing when she looked in the mirror. There was certainly no college coed staring back at her-not in the dress she was wearing. It was so short, so sparkly, so revealing. Definitely not her usual style. But Spinner had told her to wear something 'hot' and this was without a doubt the hottest thing she owned.

"Hey, El, have you seen my-" Marco walked in the door and stopped dead in his tracks. "Whoa. Where are you going?"

Ellie felt the heat creeping up her neck. Marco's gaping expression was making her nervous and she fought the urge to tug her baggiest sweatshirt over her head. "It's just a dress, Marco. That you and Ash convinced me to buy."

He shook his head, and seemed to find his voice. "This is the first time you've worn it. Who is he?"

"He?"

"You don't wear a dress like that," he gestured wildly at the short purple number, "without a very good, very cute reason."

Still pink, Ellie began gathering up her stuff into an evening bag. She would have to carry it when she needed to bring along a lot of stuff. "I'm going on assignment tonight. There is no guy."

Marco chuckled. "Right. That explains your sexy shoes and the makeup." He walked back out the door, picking up a book on her shelf on the way out-which she assumed was what he'd been looking for-and called back over his shoulder, "There are condoms in the bathroom cabinet if you need them."

"Honestly." she muttered and threw a pillow at his retreating back. Giving her outfit a final once over, she headed out for the club.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

Ellie walked in, ignoring the looks her sparkly dress was drawing. Perhaps it was a bit much, but the sequined halter strap that ran all down the front to the very short hem was gorgeous, if over the top. So the gawkers could just get over it.

She was no more than three steps inside the door when a waiter came up to her, clipboard in hand. "Your name, miss?"

"What?" She looked around and saw that several of the seats scattered throughout the club had white cards on them with names written on them in embossed calligraphy. Would Spinner have put her name on the list? No, not Spinner-Jimmy. He was Jimmy here. "Um," she looked at the wall to avoid gaping like an idiot at the man who, unlike the last one in tuxedo pants, was wearing what could only be called hot pants. Without thought she blurted, "Ashley Kerwin."

He nodded, eyes skimming the page he was holding. "Right this way."

She was led to a seat right at the edge of the runway beside the small staircase leading up to the stage. Sure enough, the place card read 'Ashley Kerwin' in bold script.

"Can I get you anything, Miss Kerwin?" The guy leaned over uncomfortably close to her face. "Jim said to take extra good care of you. He was right, you are gorgeous."

Ellie blushed. Leave it to Spinner to embarrass her via another person. "No, thank you. I'm fine."

He left with a shrug and wink, leaving her to watch several dancers while she waited for Spinner to come out. Over the course of the hour she sat there fighting bouts of mortification and boredom, but noted that each dancer that came out paid particular attention to one of the women sitting near her-all of whom had reserved seats she saw when they would lean forward. Being that they looked very wealthy and were all at least 40, she assumed these were the 'paying' customers.

She was twirling a strand of hair around her finger to distract herself from the pirate putting on a near x-rated show with the aging debutante on the other side of the stage from her. He finally retreated, pulling his eye patch from her grip, and went behind the velvet curtain. Ellie sighed in relief.

"All right, ladies, let's hear it for Captain Brad," the host boomed into his microphone. Ellie snorted. Captain **Brad**? Was he serious with that?

"And now," the guy continued, "the moment you've all been waiting for." Ellie saw several of the women sit up straighter, futzing with their hair and clothes. "Please, give it up for the one, the only, Officer Jim."

A roar of applause and screaming erupted, making Ellie jolt in her seat. Had he gotten this type of reaction last night and she just hadn't noticed?

A booming drum line and horns rumbled through the club, the lights going out save for one lone blue spotlight that Spinner stepped out into. More screaming ensued.

_So what divides  
From the bitter sweetness love provides?  
I will redefine my place within this union  
For what is a lie?  
And the better me can't show its side  
I will try to find my way to higher ground  
_

He began his routine; similar to the one the night before only the song had a Latin flavor to it which, given Spin's total lack of Latin-ness, was a little offsetting. But apparently only to her. He stopped at the end of the metal walk, directly in front of her, and began removing his shirt methodically with his back to her. After flicking his hat and sunglasses off into the audience, he turned to her, smirking.

_Oh, There's a million stories  
And a million ways to get there from here  
_

He stopped moving momentarily, and eyed her like a predator that had just spotted his latest meal. He extended a hand to her, taking one step down onto the stairs. Ellie gulped. Was she allowed to go up there? Wouldn't that attract the kind of attention they were supposed to be avoiding? The heated look in Spinner's eyes wasn't something Ellie was used to his directing at her, but she supposed it came with playing a part. And her part was just as important to this whole thing working so she took his hand without hesitation and allowed him to pull her up onto the stage.

Her first thought was that she shouldn't have worn such a short dress. But her second; that Spinner was being more than a little convincing, quickly washed it away. His hands had slid to her hips, directing her movements in the same direction of his before letting one slide up her neck, sending goose bumps spreading over her skin.

_Baby, I'm gonna put your skin on mine  
Be inside you all my life  
But if you let your heart open up your mind  
There's a whole new world on the other side  
I'm gonna be your satellite  
And I'll hang over your world at night  
And I can hear you sleep beneath the candlelight  
I can see your dreams like they were mine  
_

Without warning, Spinner took hold of the chopsticks in her hair, tugging them out and flinging them into the audience. Her hair tumbled down around her as one of his hands skated back to her hip to show her how to move, and the other planted itself firmly on her back, dipping her deeply before turning her around so that her back was pressed up against his front and lowered his face next to hers.

Spinner's breath was hot against her skin, his hands firm on her body as they danced in sync atop the metal of the catwalk. Vaguely, she registered the hoots and whistles coming from the audience as they danced together, more provocatively than Ellie had ever danced with anybody in her entire life.

_Oh, There's a million reasons  
And a million ways to get to your heart  
_

She felt Spinner's stomach expanding and contracting against the small of her back and his chest muscles flexing with the movements of his arms roving over her fame. He spun her out and back into him, pressing her solidly against his chest. Ellie's breath caught in her throat-Spinner looked just as affected as she was by the so called 'dancing' they were engaged in. He dipped her slowly one more time, twisting so that he brought her back up in front of the staircase. He pulled back and brought her hand up to his lips, kissing it while his eyes fairly smoldered up at her. It wasn't until his hand released hers once she was back in her seat that she realized he'd pressed something into her palm.

_Baby, I'm gonna make you step outside  
The corners of your world and find  
That if you let your heart open up your mind  
There's a whole new world on the other side  
I'm gonna be your satellite  
Now hand over your world at night  
And I can feel you breath beneath the candlelight  
I can see your dreams like they were mine  
_

She unfolded it discreetly, reading the hastily scribbled words carefully. **'Side hallway. Ten minutes.**' Spinner continued his routine, throwing a look back at her over his shoulder when he was finished. With a wink, he departed. Her gaze ticked down to her watch and once ten minutes had passed she stood and made her way to the hallway Spinner had led her to the night before, unaware that he was being closely watched from the private room high above the main floor.

…0...0...0...0...0...0...

_**Lyrics from 'Satellite' by Jorge Moreno and Carlos Santana**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**What do you say-time we up the stakes a little bit? ;)**_

_**For the Spepper girls. :D**_

…0...

Ellie slipped easily past the other patrons of the club into the side hallway Spinner had chosen for them to meet. They were all too busy admiring the eye candy on the catwalk to notice where she was. It was dark and secluded there, the only illumination coming from the blinking strobe lights of the club moving in shifts along the wall where she was standing.

"Hey."

She jumped at Spinner's whispered voice behind her. She whirled; hand clutched to her chest, and whacked his arm with all her might.

"Ow," he said dryly. "What was that for?"

"You scared me half to death," Ellie hissed. Her heart had calmed slightly, her breathing back to normal, and she glared at him. "What's up?"

"Well, I had to tell my Lieutenant what was going on, how you showed up here the other night, and he was majorly pissed to say the least."

"Oh, Spin, I'm so sorry," she said quickly. "I never meant to get you in trouble."

Waving a hand dismissively, Spinner shook his head. "He would have found out eventually. But he did give me some things for you."

Well, that was intriguing. Ellie quirked an eyebrow, smirking at him. "Does this have anything to do with that little dance number?"

He grinned at her, sheepish and blushing, and placed a hand on the wall beside her head, leaning into her. "You have to admit, it was fun."

Ellie's lips pursed. She didn't need him to see the smile threatening to break onto her face. It had been fun. And also sort of … hot. Who knew Spinner had that kind of seduction ability in him? Had she been asked a few days earlier she would have said that she thought he as far too goofy to pull anything like that off. Now she knew better and it was very disconcerting to say the least. In all honesty, she was seeing Spinner in a whole new light.

"Why'd you tell him?" she asked. Spinner smirked at her, fully aware of what she was doing. It had gotten to her, their dance. It had him as well, though he had no idea what about it was causing such a strong reaction. Sure, Ellie was pretty. She was beautiful-not to mention smart and sweet when she wanted to be. But they were friends, only friends, and nothing more. Even the time he had gotten her to give him her phone number was really just about one upping Jimmy.

But up on the stage, amid the pounding music and the pulsating lights, it had certainly felt like something else. Something more.

Something decidedly … physical.

But Ellie's friendship was more important to him than just a passing spark so he took a step back from her and schooled his features into a neutral expression. "You remember the cop who came over for dinner a few weeks back?"

Ellie nodded. "Officer Simmons. What does she have to do with this?"

"Well apparently," he said, "she was here last night and she recognized you. So she followed us saw us talking back here. Told my Lieutenant."

"Did she happen to see this?" Ellie pulled the wide strap of her dress aside to reveal her collarbone. Spinner looked at the mark, remembered giving it to her, and cleared his throat.

"Sorry about that," he muttered. "Had to make it look believable."

She grinned at him. It seemed right that he was starting to get a little uncomfortable after what he'd done to her.

But the thought didn't last long as Spinner's head suddenly shot up, his eyes peering around intently. His hand went to his hip, looking for his gun but finding only the fake he wore as part of his costume. When she opened her mouth to ask what was going on he held a hand up to silence her. She obliged, one look at his face telling her that this was no joke. His jaw was tightly clenched, eyes darting around rapidly. A shadow around the corner of the wall moved-too quickly to be coincidental and he reacted.

The next thing Ellie knew, she was pressed up against the wall just like the night before, Spinner flush against her. However, the circumstances were completely different. Every inch of Spinner was against hers, but his face was turned to the side while he looked for whatever it was that was out of the ordinary. The strobe lights turned, casting a blue light over his face in waves as she looked up at him and her stomach turned over. Ellie didn't know if it had anything to do with the lights, or proximity, or that dance-but Spinner looked predatory and aggressive and unequivocally … male.

"Who's there?" he called out. Ellie shivered at the gravely tone that accompanied it.

A high-pitched giggle came from the shadows and a figure staggered towards them. "Sorry," the voice, female and young, slurred. She came closer and they saw that she was just a kid really, no older than sixteen, and obviously hammered. "I jus waned to see what goesh on back h-here. Byedy-bye." She turned, slipping a little in her stiletto heels and wandered back out to the floor.

Spinner released a breath and then chuckled. "I think I'm getting a little paranoid." Glancing down at Ellie, he noticed that her eyes were fixed on him. She looked … somewhat mesmerized. "Ellie?"

"Oh." A deep blush crept up her neck, spreading through her cheeks, and she turned her head to the side. She was mortified to say the least. Even more so than she had been the night before when that bouncer had caught them in the exact same hallway.

Their closeness seemed to register to him and he took a step back. Ellie moved away from the wall. It was far too confusing to be in that hallway.

Scratch that. It was too confusing to be around Spinner in that hallway as he kept shoving her up against the wall.

"This is too open." His voice interrupted her thoughts and she looked at him in surprise. He took hold of her hand and pulled her down the hallway in the opposite direction from the main floor. The hall got narrower but brighter and doors began dotting the walls. He stopped near the end, opening the door for her to go through and followed her inside, shutting the door behind him.

"What was with the freak out?" she asked. It was a much safer topic than whatever had just transpired out in the hall.

He plopped onto the couch in the corner of what she assumed was his dressing room. There was a chair against the opposing wall so she sat there-if only to get a little distance. She watched as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck like he was distracted, his eyes on the floor in front of him.

"Spinner?" she prodded.

"I um … I was afraid somebody might have been on to us," he muttered.

Ellie leaned back in her chair. "Okay. I get that. So why go all Macho Man? You looked ready to take someone's head off."

Eyes shifting around the room, everywhere but at her, Spinner nervously replied. "I'm just not used to having someone else to look after when I'm on assignment. I just … got scared."

A little bit of Ellie melted at his sincerity. Spinner when he wasn't acting like a goof was sweet. Always had been. And the protective streak was nothing new. He was just being himself. But this was the first time she'd actually **noticed**.

"So um, you said that you had something for me?" she said. A change of subject was good. Safe.

Spinner jumped off the couch. "Oh!" Digging around in the black duffel bag she and Marco had been speculating about the night before, he finally extracted a small stack of papers and handed to her.

She flipped through them, glancing back up at him, and arched an eyebrow. "Is this really necessary?" Ellie held up the driver's license bearing her picture and Ash's name as an example. "ID? Checks? Do I really need this stuff?"

He shrugged, the material of his shirt shifting with the movement in its unbuttoned state. "You never know. At any rate they can't hurt, right?"

"I guess not." Idly, she inspected the rest of the documentation he'd brought her-credit card, birth certificate, high school diploma, college schedule at NYU-where Ash was currently enrolled.

"Spin, I don't think I need all this. I mean, I get why they'd do a background check on you. But me?" Her expression was dubious and he smiled at her in that know it all way he knew she hated. "You never know what these kind of people are capable of."

He got an evil glare from her in return before her face cleared and she dug into the small evening bag she had with her. "In that case, where can I hide this?" She held up a minute microphone, no bigger than an earring, and awaited his answer.

"Where'd you get that?" Spinner took it out of her palm and held it to his eye in inspection.

Smiling cheekily, her tongue poking through her teeth, Ellie snatched it away from him. "You like this, huh?" She had nearly forgotten about Spinner's fascination with gadgets of any kind.

"Yeah," he replied. "So does thing really work?"

"No. It's just designed to look pretty," she stated flatly. She spun around, scanning the appropriate place to hide it. "Where can I put it?"

Spinner turned around, peering about the room like she was. He stopped, plucking the device out of her hand. There was a low shelf beside the closet, littered with a small stereo and several CD's. He arranged the discs so they were in a small triangular shape, casting a shadow along the side of the stereo and placed the microphone far enough back in the little conclave so it was hidden. "Will that work?"

Ellie extracted her cell phone from her bag and punched in the code that would allow her to listen. She plugged in the corresponding earpiece, placing it in her other ear so it would block out all other outside noise. Hearing static and the muted club music coming through her phone. "It worked." She beamed at him and handed over the phone so he could see it for himself.

"This is so cool." The enthusiasm he was showing wasn't what one would expect from a police officer but it was a hundred percent Spinner and completely endearing. "Where'd you get this?"

"Online," she replied simply.

"Ah."

The sound of footsteps in the hallway cut into their conversation, growing louder and finally stopping outside of Spinner's dressing room. There was some muffled conversation, and Spinner was forced to grab Ellie's elbow to stop her from pressing her ear to the door. One of the voices was lower than the rest, and sounded a little broken like he had an accent.

"Crap," Spinner whispered. "It's Anotonelli."

"The mob guy?" Ellie hissed. "What are we gonna do? It sounds like he's coming in here."

Spinner's eyes darted around; searching desperately for somewhere Ellie could hide. They weren't allowed to have visitors of any sort in their dressing rooms-especially 'customers.' But the only place that seemed even feasible was the closet. But being that he had agreed to put one of the other guy's super expensive car parts that he was hiding from his wife, there was no room for her in it.

The door knob wiggled, both of their eyes flying towards it, and the door opened partially. They could hear the voices clearly now, discussing liquor orders, and they most definitely were coming in.

Seeing no other option for a believable cover, Ellie placed both of her hands on Spinner's chest and shoved him down onto the couch, the soft leather squeaking with the shift in weight. Before he could protest, she settled herself onto his lap, hands going to his face as she kissed him deeply and his palms fell to her thighs, exposed where her dress had hiked up.

In the back of her mind she registered the voices growing louder outside the door of Spinner's dressing room but they were slightly dimmed by the feeling of Spin's fingers digging into her thighs and his mouth sliding hungrily against hers like …

Well, almost like it was a real kiss.

But she couldn't focus on that. One hand slid up his face, tangling into his hair, and the other skimmed down his neck and onto the strip of skin bared by his unbuttoned shirt. She felt rather than heard Spinner inhale sharply through his nose and one of the hands on her thigh dug a little deeper, moving upwards under the hem of her dress. Then she felt fingers dancing along her shoulder blades, taking full advantage of the fact that her dress was backless.

"Ahem."

Ellie broke away from a dumbfounded looking Spinner and scrambled off his lap. The blush flooding her face was genuine and she averted her eyes in an attempt to look like she had been caught in a compromising situation unintentionally.

Antonelli looked like every stereotypical mob movie come to life with his dark Italian suit, deep tan, and slicked back hair. And he was eyeing Ellie with a bemused expression that deeply unnerved her. She crossed her arms over her chest in discomfort. It felt like he and all three of his goons was trying to see through her dress.

"Jim," he said to Spinner in heavily accented English, "you know the rules about guests."

"I know." Spinner stood and buttoned his shirt. Wiping idly at the lipstick o his mouth, he gave Ellie a look that read like genuine regret that they were being forced to cut their 'interlude' shirt. "Um, Ash," he muttered, "do you mind?"

It took a few seconds for her to realize that he was speaking to her. When it finally sunk in, she grabbed her purse hurriedly, making sure that her phone and earpiece were safely concealed. "Oh. Of course not. I'll, uh, talk to you later."

He nodded and she scurried out the door, waiting until she was safely out the main door before putting her earpiece in and turning the phone on.

…0...

_**Eh. Writer's block is tough to get over and it sure read that way, huh?**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: For Joa because, well, because her idea saved it pretty much. :P And here's hoping Laura doesn't get mad that I updated while she was on vacation. **_

…0...

It was all Ellie could do not to put the earpiece in the second Spinner's dressing room door closed behind her. But that would draw exactly the kind of attention she was supposed to be avoiding. So with more self control than she knew she even possessed, she walked slowly to her car, making sure to keep her steps slow and even.

But once she was safely in her car, she grabbed her cell and turned the small speakerphone on. It crackled a bit, a tiny popping noise emitted before she heard a male voice wafting through. She hit record quickly.

"… you know better, Jim." Antonelli's voice said.

Spinner's deep baritone came into the conversation as she turned her car onto the street behind the club. "I know and I'm sorry, but did you happen to see her?" Ellie blushed furiously in the privacy of her car. It seemed there was no way to keep herself from being flustered during this case.

"I did." Another voice, one she assumed belonging to one of the goons Antonelli'd had with him, chimed in. "Hot. And she clearly wanted you."

She shuddered at the leer she could almost see in her mind's eye. Relief washed over her when the voice was cut off.

"It doesn't matter. She's a customer. And that means one thing. If she wants a little action, she pays for it. That simple. And I don't care how hot she is." Antonelli's voice was firm, his words definitive. "Understood?"

"Yeah," Spinner's voice answered, the word clipped off which left her deeply unsettled for some reason. But she was home by then so she turned the recorder off. She had everything she needed for her article and for Spin to make an arrest.

So why didn't that make her happy?

…0...

Marco was waiting up for her when she got home, most likely to grill her about her 'date.' Upon seeing her disheveled hair and mussed lipstick, not to mention the way her dress was crinkled, he began cackling and proceeded to grill her about the details. "Marco, it was nothing."

He looked pointedly at her hair. It was hanging in limp tendrils all around her head, tousled beyond repair by the dancing and Spinner's hands. And not for the first time she was glad that the strap of her dress covered the hickey on her collarbone. Smoothing out the short hem of her dress, she gave him the best glare she could muster. "I told you before, Marco-I was working."

"Working. Yeah," he muttered as he flipped through a magazine. "That's why you look like you just spent the evening getting-"

"Marco!" she cried, heat creeping up her face.

He laughed. Setting the magazine on the coffee table in front of him, he held his hands up in defense. "Sorry, sorry. But don't think I haven't noticed the way you've been acting today. There's definitely something on your mind, and if I had to guess, I'd say it was a some**one**."

She sighed, looking up to the ceiling to find the courage not to scream. Her eyes landed on an old photograph on the wall and she felt her lips quirk upwards. "You caught me, Marco," she said. "I was out all evening with a really hot guy with a tongue ring."

He followed her eyes. "What are you looking at?" He eyes fell to the photo of the two of them with Jimmy, Ash, and Spinner and his eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Spinner?"

She grinned at him. "You think Spinner's hot?"

Marco flushed a deep red, looking wildly from the picture to her. "What? No! I don't think ... no."

"Uh-huh," she nodded. Ellie shrugged off her jacket and sat down across from Marco on the couch. "Funny how I saw 'hot guy with a tongue ring' and you immediately think of Spin even though he hasn't had a tongue ring since he joined the police academy." He squirmed under her gaze and she leaned in closer to him. "Something you want to tell me?"

"Yeah. I'm going to bed," he snapped and stomped over to the stairs.

"Sweet dreams," she called after him.

Chuckling, Ellie went upstairs to put her recorder away and changed into a pair of pajama bottoms and an old Leafs jersey she had swiped from Dylan. With one of Marco's heavy duty brushes, she managed to wrangle her hair up on top of her head. Her stomach began rumbling, and she remembered that she had been too nervous to eat earlier. On her way down the stairs the front door opened and Spinner walked in, looking drained and exhausted. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied. A sudden case of nerves attacked her, most likely stemming from the fact that the last time she had seen Spinner her tongue had been down his throat and he'd had his hand up her dress. She felt herself color and she averted her eyes quickly. "I was just going to go get a snack."

He followed her into the kitchen and plopped down into a chair while she busied herself making a sandwich. "You want one?" she asked. He shook his head and continued to follow her movements with his eyes, noting the way she deliberately avoided meeting his eyes.

"Ellie? Are you mad at me?"

Startled by his question, she turned to him. "Of course not. Why would I be mad?" She placed her plate on the table in front of him, then turned to get a glass of water. "It's not like you did anything. Oh, other than pulling me up on stage at a strip club." She glared good naturedly and he gave her a lopsided, albeit sheepish, grin in return. "I thought we were past that."

Settling in at her chair, she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "We are?"

"I said I was sorry," he mumbled, his lower lip pushing out in a pout and he fixed his eyes into a puppy dog expression.

"Do I look like I fall for the sad puppy face?" she inquired.

"Good point," he stated and rose from his chair to get a soda from the fridge. "So did you find out anything on your bug?"

"I think we got a few incriminating comments," she told him. She left out the rather icky details of him and the goon discussing her. "But I think we need him flat out saying something about illegal activity before we can wrap it up."

He looked perplexed for a moment, then shook his head. "Really?"

Bobbing her head and ignoring a little nagging voice in the back of her head, Ellie fixed an innocent look on her face. "Did you know Marco thinks you're hot?"

Spinner choked on his water. "What?!"

"Nothing. Just teasing. Consider it payback for that dance." She sat her plate and glass in the sink and ran some water over them so Marco wouldn't squawk at her the next morning. When she turned around, Spinner was directly behind her and she jumped in surprise. "Spinner!"

He didn't seem very sorry about scaring her, or in affect trapping her up against the sink. In fact, he looked rather … intense. "Uh, Spin? Kinda in my personal space here." When he didn't move backwards, she attempted to cross her arms over her chest, but couldn't and rolled her eyes instead. "Spinner."

"You're not really mad about the dance, are you?" he asked, his voice pitched lower than usual. She shivered involuntarily.

"No," she told him, "I'm not mad. It was a little embarrassing, but I get why you did it."

Placing a hand on the counter on either side of her, Spinner titled his head to the side, disbelief in his eyes. "You do?"

"It looked credible for you to try and get a little … closer," she tried to ignore the blush she felt rising, "to a customer that could potentially …." Ellie's voice trailed off. No matter how long she did undercover work, there were still plenty of things that embarrassed her and even insinuating 'purchasing' a guy was one of them.

He dropped his face closer to hers. "Want to pay for my services?" A mischievous lilt came into his voice, and he grinned at her obvious discomfort. "I think I could wrangle you a discount if you're really interested."

'_He's trying to get to me,' _she realized. _'Well two can play that game.'_

"Really?" Ellie licked her lips and looked up at him through her eyelashes in what she hoped was a seductive manner. Se let one hand skim up his forearm to his shoulder.

He gulped, eyes widening at the sudden switch in her demeanor. Then a slow smile spread over his face. "Only if you wear that dress. Where'd you find that anyway?"

"Okay," she announced when he began pressing closer into her. "I give, okay? You win."

"I knew it." Spinner pushed himself away from the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. "I just hope you do better when talk to Antonelli."

"When I what?" she demanded.

He sat back down in the chair he'd vacated. "If you really want solid criminal activity, you're gonna have to arrange your 'purchase' with him yourself." He added finger quotes around the word purchase and beamed at her.

"Is that absolutely necessary? You can't act as a go between?" The idea of having a face to face chat with a underworld kingpin left her feeling a bit queasy. He must have noticed because he stood in front of her and took her hands in his.

"It's standard, Ellie. But if you're not sure-"

"No," she cut him off. "I'll do it." She took her lower lip between her teeth, chewing in thought. "Exactly how much do you cost, anyway?"

"Ha, ha," he said dryly. "Remember that credit card I gave you with Ash' name on it?" She nodded. "Well, just charge it to that. The prescient will take care of it. All you have to do is make the deal and get it on tape."

"I don't have any more mini-microphones," she told him.

"I do," he said. "But um, you'll have to hide it in your clothes somewhere, but a place where we'll still be able to hear the conversation. Like um-" he gestured towards the jersey she was wearing. "You know …"

"I get it," she cut him off. "Tomorrow good?"

"Sure. I'll set it up and give you the details."

Ellie headed towards the door, intending to head up to bed, but stopped and called back to him. "Spin?"

"Yeah?"

"If we had kept going, I so would've won." With a smirk, she headed up the stairs, leaving a dumfounded Spinner behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

_Seeing no other option for a believable cover, Ellie placed both of her hands on Spinner's chest and shoved him down onto the couch, the soft leather squeaking with the shift in weight. Before he could protest, she settled herself onto his lap, hands going to his face as she kissed him deeply and his palms fell to her thighs, exposed where her dress had hiked up._

In the back of her mind she registered the voices growing louder outside the door of Spinner's dressing room but they were slightly dimmed by the feeling of Spin's fingers digging into her thighs and his mouth sliding hungrily against hers like …

Well, almost like it was a real kiss.

One hand slid up his face, tangling into his hair, and the other skimmed down his neck and onto the strip of skin bared by his unbuttoned shirt. She felt rather than heard Spinner inhale sharply through his nose and one of the hands on her thigh dug a little deeper, moving upwards under the hem of her dress. Then she felt fingers dancing along her shoulder blades, taking full advantage of the fact that her dress was backless.

"_Spinner," she breathed against his lips. He pulled back only long enough for her to see that his eyes were fairly smoldering-gazing into hers with an intensity that made her heart jump in her chest. The hand in his hair slid down onto his chest beside her other one, moving across his skin to spread his shirt apart. Her palms felt like they were on fire as they moved over his flesh, feeling the muscles rippling beneath them and her mouth lowered back down to his, hovering, just close enough for their lips to barely brush against each other's with each breath. _

_It was Spinner who first moved the fraction of an inch that separated them and seized her lips. Their mouths touched in a caress as soft and quiet as a whisper. This went on for awhile, lips only touching for quick, teasing nips until Ellie captured his bottom lip and grazed her teeth slowly over it, causing him to turn up the kiss. He opened his mouth, prying apart her lips with his tongue before plundering, allowing her a taste for the first time. He tasted sweet yet spicy-addictively so, and they clung together, as their mouths fused together while tongues tangled._

_The kiss changed from gentle and lazy to hard and desperate. Their lips bruised each other as their tongues met thrust after thrust. Only gasps and murmurs of wanting exchanged between them as their hands started to roam; his delving under the hem of her dress, long since bunched up to the point of indecency, his hands gripping the back of her thighs and hers had moved to the sides of his face. Their breaths merged as they both breathed heavily, pressed so tightly together their hearts seemed to beat in tandem. Spinner's fingers slid up her spine, sending tingles along each of her nerve endings, to tug her dress ties loose at the back of her neck… _

Ellie awoke with a start, sweat making her hair stick to the back of her neck and her forehead. She realized that her face was buried in the pillow she was clutching and that, in her dream induced haze; she had substituted it for Spinner.

"Damn it!" she wailed. "No, no, no, no, no. This can not be happening." Burying her head under her pillow seemed to be the most logical solution at the time. All she wanted was to hide from the bizarre leftover fluttery feelings in her stomach from the dream.

That dream…

It had all seemed so real. Every touch, every kiss, every single sensation of his skin on hers was so tangible that the fact that she had imagined them was enough to make her want to cry.

"This is crazy," she muttered into the mattress below. "This is Spinner. The same Spinner who leaves his boxers on the bathroom floor, who left the toilet seat up every day the first three months he lived here. I cannot be in lust with Spinner. I can't."

Even with the mound of feathers pressed against her ears she could hear Spinner's door open in the room next to hers and his heavy footfalls to the bathroom across the hall. When the sound of the shower being turned on reached her, images assaulted her-images of Spinner that did little to help her situation and she moaned again. "I can't."

…0...

Marco was at the breakfast table when she walked into the kitchen, reading the Arts section of the newspaper. "Morning."

She grunted at him in passing, causing him to lower his paper and observe her crankiness. Ellie was never a morning person, but this was grouchy even for her.

"El? You okay?"

She waited until after taking a long sip of her coffee before she let her eyes focus on her best friend at the table in front of her. "I didn't sleep well," she stated in a flat voice that he didn't believe for one second.

"If this is about me teasing you last night-" he began. Ellie waved a hand and cut him off.

"Don't worry about it, Marco. I honestly just didn't sleep too great. I had … odd dreams"

He sat up straighter in his chair and Ellie mentally kicked herself. Marco's major in social work had forced him to take several psychology classes and he'd taken a particular shine to the dream analysis section and any mention of dreams prompted his eyes to light up like a kid on Christmas morning. "What kind of dreams?"

"The kind that involves a certain best friend of mine transforming into a giant purple duck with an affinity for pimp hats," she told him. He made a face at her in annoyance, but he dropped the subject-the first bright spot in her morning. She grinned at him while pulling a box of Coco Puffs from the cupboard. She became wrapped up in fixing her painfully simple breakfast while attempting to keep her face and actions neutral enough that Marco wouldn't catch on, focusing to keep her mind on the chocolate puffs in front of her.

She would have succeeded had Spinner not wandered into the kitchen a while later, at the exact moment she was putting her bowel in the sink, fresh from the shower.

"Morning," he drawled.

"Hey, Spin." Marco reopened the newspaper and scanned without really paying much attention. "You not working today?"

Ellie had been so preoccupied at not looking at him for fear that she'd give something away she'd failed to notice for the first time that Spinner's uniform was nowhere in sight that morning. Instead, he was wearing a black tee shirt and jeans that fit perfectly and he was barefoot. Passing by her to get to the coffee pot, he gave of the still strong scent of his piney aftershave and excess heat from the hot water. She gripped the sink involuntarily.

"Nah," he answered. "I switched shifts with Rich so I have to work Sunday instead."

Marco grimaced. "That sucks."

"Yeah, but it's his wife's birthday today so it's no big deal." A shrug accompanied his statement, making the thin cotton encasing him shift. The material changed in front of Ellie's eyes, turning into the powder blue of the mock cop uniform he'd had on the night before.

'_Get a grip!' _he subconscious screamed at her. Shaking her head to scatter the thoughts away, she let her bowel drop to the sink with a clank and made to head upstairs for a shower. Spinner got up for a second cup of coffee at the same time and they collided-his hands flying to her waist to keep her upright.

Cheeks flaming, Ellie felt her breath catch when his dark eyes locked onto hers, intense and unreadable, his fingers tightening for a split second. But he released her and moved away so quickly she was left with a dazed wondering of whether or not it really happened. He moved past her, letting his gaze rake over her frame in her pajamas, before he managed to get to the coffee pot.

"Well that was interesting," Marco quipped. He had followed her up to her bedroom when she had regained her synapses enough to move and he perched on her bed, watching her rifle through her dresser drawer.

"What?"

Laughter bubbled over and he stared at Ellie in disbelief. "Are you serious? Ellie-when exactly did you develop a yen for Spinner?"

She whirled, tee shirts clutched in both hands. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Before I answer that," Marco told her, "would you mind closing your mouth? You look like a fish."

Ellie clamped her mouth shut. Folding her arms over her chest, tees shirts and all, she glared at the apparent delight Marco was taking in the situation. "I do not have a 'yen' for Spinner."

He eyed her silently, his face completely devoid of expression.

"I don't," she insisted. Still, Marco remained quiet. "Marco!" She stamped her foot in frustration. "This isn't funny!"

"Oh, I know," he answered. "And I take it back. Your behavior has made it very clear that you don't, in fact, have a yen for Spinner."

"Thank you."

His hand rose to cut off any further response from her. "I only say that because it's beyond obvious you have a major case of the hots for him."

Time seemed to stop for Ellie as the walls closed in on her. There was something about Marco being aware of her growing attraction for Spinner that made the full weight of the situation hit her right in the pit of her stomach. She collapsed back against her bedroom door, sliding down to the floor. "Oh my God."

Marco came over and settled beside her, his arm going around her shoulders. "It just hit you, huh?"

Nodding, she turned her head into her best friend's neck. A few deep breaths, combined with the feel of Marco's hand rubbing circles on her back, did a lot to calm her nerves, but they didn't do much to still the pounding of her heart. "I don't know how this happened, Marco. I was just following up on a tip about my story. And Spinner was there. He's covering the same one so we started working together. It just … it happened so fast." She looked at him, smiled shakily and shrugged. "Three days ago he was just Spinner. My roommate, my friend. Now he's this guy that makes me feel … like my bones are melting every time he looks at me. And I didn't even realize it was happening."

This was more serious than he had originally thought. A little lust was one thing. It was almost expected when two people lived together for a while. Flirtation, curiosity, a few naughty thought even, weren't that big of a surprise. It sounded as if Ellie was deep in the midst of some serious developing feelings that she didn't know how to deal with. That possibly, she couldn't deal with yet. "Are you maybe interested in starting something?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "What we're involved in, Marco … it could get dangerous and the idea of worrying over the person you're involved with-it's different than with a friend, you know?"

"Yeah."

Ellie sat up; her arms propped on her knees and buried her face in her hands. Dangerous. It wasn't until she said it out loud that it really began to sink in. Maybe Spinner had been right about her getting in over her head in the situation. She wasn't sure she could do this-it all seemed like too much to handle. The lying, the fake identities, the mob … the kiss especially-she didn't want this.

"I can't do it, Marco," she confessed. Deep in her heart, Ellie knew that the smart thing to do was to tell Spinner that she wanted out. Then go to Nina and refuse the story. True, she'd lose out on editor, and who knew when, or if, Spinner would be able to pin something on Antonelli, but there were some risks that were just too great. "I can't risk it-any of it. I just … I don't think I can deal with this."

…0...

Spinner threw down the boxing gloves he had wearing onto the small table where his water bottle sat, and wiped his face off a towel before taking a drink. Two hours with the punching bag at the station's gym had him feeling more confused than ever. This entire situation with the club and Ellie was really throwing him for a loop.

"Hey, man." Another cop, Sam, who had been in his class at the academy, wandered over to him. "Shouldn't you be practicing your lap dances?"

"Funny," Spinner snapped. He was used to the ribbing about his assignment by now. The majority of the department found it hilarious that he was stripping, and the comments, not to mention the women's underwear in his locker, had become routine. He put his gloves back on and began a series of quick, sharp jabs.

"Whoa. What's got your panties in a bunch?" Sam teased.

Scowling, Spinner hit the bag so it thudded against the other man's stomach. "Nothing. Spot me."

Sam took hold of the bag and held it so Spinner could hit it without it swinging wildly around. He didn't buy that nothing was bothering him. The only time he had ever seen him in the gym was when there was something weighing on his mind. "Is this about your case?"

"Nope," Spinner insisted. "The case is fine. Better than fine really. I should be able to close it soon."

"That's great, man," Sam said. But Spinner merely grunted in response. "Shouldn't you be happy about that?"

"I am. I just …" His voice trailed off and he shrugged, socking the bag half-heartedly one final time.

Comprehension dawned on Sam. Why hadn't he realized it before? "Girl trouble."

"Understatement of the century," Spinner muttered. He took his gloves off again and flung them to the ground this time. Collapsing into one of the chairs next to the locker room doors, he undid the Ace Bandage wrapped around his wrist to prevent an old sprain from becoming aggravated. Sam followed and plopped down beside him, focusing his attention on the way Spinner's eyes landed on the floor mat, but didn't really focus.

"Want to talk about?" Sam offered.

With a shrug, Spinner kicked his toe at the blue plastic covering the floor in front of his chair. "I don't know, dude, it's just-" He shook his hands in the air, trying to illustrate his point without actually making it. "Have you ever known a girl for a while-just as friends-and then suddenly … she's all you can think about?"

Nodding slowly, Sam leaned forward in his chair. "All too well, my friend. Wanna talk about it? Or her rather?"

Spinner wiped a hand over the back of his neck in distraction. It usually helped him get his thoughts in order and allowed the time to sort things out before he spoke. It didn't always work, but it helped. "It's my roommate. Ellie." He glanced over at the other officer before glancing down at his hands clasped in front of him. He propped his elbows on his knees.

"Is this the girl that's helping you with the case?" Sam asked. Off Spinner's disbelieving look, he held his hands up in defense. "Small prescient, big mouths. You do the math."

Sighing and nodding, Spinner sucked in a deep breath before expelling it slowly. "Yeah, that's her. I just can't believe I never saw it before."

"Saw …?" Sam prodded.

"You know-the thing!" Spinner exclaimed. When Sam didn't look any more understanding, he struggled for the right words to express what he meant. "I knew she was pretty. I knew she was smart. And sweet, and funny, and brave. But I didn't know she was … that girl. You know?"

"You mean," Sam asked, "the girl? The one who makes your brain short circuit?"

"Dude, it's like an entire power outage." It felt good to get it all off his chest finally. He couldn't tell Ellie how he was feeling. Or Marco. Who knew how roommate number three would react to the revelation that Spinner was harboring some pretty heavy duty wanting for a certain redhead. Given his protectiveness of Ellie, it was liable to be some cross between dazed silence and hysterical muttering in Italian. "But it can't happen."

"Why not? If you feel this strong about her, go for it. In my experience, there aren't too many people out there with the ability to make you meltdown the way you're describing. You'll hate yourself if you pass on this."

"I'll hate myself if she gets hurt because of this case." There was no other way, Spinner saw that now. He couldn't let Ellie risk this-and he couldn't risk her getting hurt. In any way. And there was certainly no way she'd back out on her own. He needed to make the decision for her-for her own good. "I've gotta get her out of this."


	7. Chapter 7

…0...

Spinner was just getting out of the gym shower when his cell phone rang from inside his duffel bag. He dug around and saw that the ID was flashing 'Club.' His thoughts were still on his earlier conversation with Sam so he shook his head to clear away all the lingering thoughts about Ellie before flipping the phone open.

"Jim."

"The boss needs to see you," a gruff voice, one of Antonelli's bodyguards, said. "How soon can you be here?"

"I'm at the gym across town, so…half hour?" he estimated.

"I'll let him know." Those were the last words he heard before the dial tone sounded in his ear.

With a deep sigh, Spinner dropped the phone back into the bag and began getting dressed. The plan had been to find Ellie after he finished working out and somehow convince her to back out of the case. It was going to be a difficult task, of that he was sure, and the sooner he got to her the better. Sam's little pep talk had helped to put things into perspective-in his own way. He was now more convinced than ever that there was something major brewing between him and Ellie-which only made the situation as a whole all the more dangerous. Worrying about the safety of Ellie his friend was tough enough in itself. She had come to be a really good friend over the past few years, especially after he moved in with her and Marco, and there was very little he wouldn't do for her. But being concerned about Ellie as the girl he was potentially in serious like with, well that could get distracting. And a distraction was something he couldn't afford at the moment. It could get them both hurt. Or worse.

And then there was that thought that if he insisted she stay out of the case, was he risking perhaps ruining his chance with her? If he even had a chance to begin with.

As if his thoughts had been transmitted, his phone rang again, blinking 'Ellie' in bright letters. He inhaled quickly, releasing it much slower, to try and calm the little thud of his heart against his ribcage at the sight of her name. "Hey, El. What's up?"

"Hey." Her voice sounded uncertain and he frowned.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she answered. She still sounded a little odd-like she was forcing the words out, but she barreled on so quickly that he didn't get a chance to ask her. "I just really need to talk to you about…the case. Where are you? Can you get home?"

"Sorry," he told her. "I have to go see Antonelli."

"Oh." The line was quiet for a second before Ellie's voice came back, a touch more anxious than before. "I'll meet you there I guess."

Spinner began shaking his head even though she couldn't see him. "Ellie, no."

"It can't wait!" she insisted, and for a second she sounded like the Ellie Nash he remembered. His friend Ellie. The one that used to nag him about leaving dirty magazines in the living room. "Please, Spinner?"

"Fine," he muttered. "But don't come inside. Meet me in the parking lot." He hung up before she could argue with him, no doubt about blowing their cover. In his minds eye, he could almost see her expression; open mouth, wide eyes narrowing into tiny slits, cheeks flaming the same color as her hair.

'_Maybe she'll cool down before she gets there.'_

…0...

Ellie waited for Spinner nervously in the parking lot of Club Haze, twisting her keys around in her hand and tapping her foot against the blacktop in impatience. One of the other cops assigned to the case, Simmons, had shown up at the house not long after Spinner left to give her the wire she was supposed to wear when she made her deal with Antonelli and showed her how to turn it on. It was laying in her purse, unused, so she could give it to Spinner to take back down to the station after they talked. Somehow she didn't think it would be that big a problem.

Officer Simmons, a tall blonde with huge green eyes, had made sure to tell her more than once that she was only there because the Lieutenant had ordered her and that her opinion of Ellie getting involved in undercover work was tantamount to idiotic. After all, she was merely a 'writer' Simmons kept saying, as if being a writer was a step below a bug.

And it didn't help that Ellie suspected the officer had a bit of a crush on Spinner. She'd figured as much ever since they'd had her over for dinner.

Ellie could only imagine the satisfaction she'd get when she found out Ellie dropped out of the case.

She spied Spinner's car pulling into the parking lot, her pulse speeding up a little bit. Her keys slid from her grasp onto the ground. She bent to pick them up and it took her three tries to pick them up since her palms had begun to sweat. The employee parking spaces were at the other end of the lot from where her car was. He ambled towards her, his ever present black duffel clutched in one hand. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied slowly. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry and her heart was pounding distractedly in her chest. "Thanks for meeting me."

"Yeah, well, I had to come down here anyway." Spinner's eyes darted around the lot, checking the building to see if anyone was watching them. It also helped that if he could keep from looking at her he might be able to stop the urges he was feeling to press her up against her car. "So what's up?"

"Well," she began. This was harder than she had anticipated it would be. It had been easy to dismiss her feelings as side effects of the case, nothing more than residual nerves and whatnot, but talking to Marco forced her to realize that they hadn't been born from the case-it had only served to shed light on them. "Spin, I get the feeling that my being involved in this isn't going over well down at the station."

She watched as his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Why would you say that?"

Ellie slouched back against her car door and pinched the bridge of her nose to ward off the headache she felt forming between her eyes. "Officer Simmons brought the wire over this morning, and let's just say she's not exactly subtle." Her expression twisted into a grimace.

"No, she's not," Spinner agreed. He leaned in closer to Ellie, lowering his voice so she would be able to grasp how serious he was. She gulped, reminding him of the night before when they had played their little game just to see who would back down first. "But to be honest, she's not the only one who has a problem with a…civilian getting mixed up with this. They think it's a liability."

"Oh." Her voice was small and her eyes downcast. "That's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about anyway."

"Yeah?" Spinner took a step towards her without thinking and he caught a whiff of her perfume. The night before, when she'd been on his lap all tangled around him, came into his mind and his blood started to hum under his skin. He caught himself leaning into her at the memory, but pulled back before he embarrassed himself. "Ellie, if um, if you have doubts about all this-"

"Jim!"

Both of their heads whipped in the direction of the voice coming towards them. One of Antonelli's burly bodyguards, the one who'd called Spinner and told him to come, strode their way with a grim look on his face. "You're late. The boss doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Sorry, man," Spinner picked his bag off the ground, casting a look at Ellie as he passed her. "Just got a little sidetracked."

"Understandable," the guy gave Ellie a lecherous once over that made her want to shudder, but she restrained herself. "But it's what we figured."

Spinner stopped and tossed another look back at Ellie over his shoulder. Jaw working in anger, his voice took on a gritty tone that made Ellie shiver when he spoke. "What's that supposed to mean?"

A smug grin spread over the larger man's face. "Just that I was instructed to invite, Miss Kerwin, is it?" Ellie nodded rapidly. "inside if she were out here."

He ushered Ellie and Spinner inside, instructing Spinner to sit at the bar until after Ellie's 'meeting' was over. She glanced at Spinner, her heart in her throat, as the guard shut the door behind her.

The office was large, but dark, and expensively furnished with ornate and ostentatious artwork littered about. Antonelli sat in a throne like leather chair behind a mahogany desk bigger than Ellie's car. Above the collar of his impeccably tailored black shirt, his tan skin stood out vividly, his teeth almost blindingly white as he smiled at her the way she imagined jackals would at their prey. A shudder raced along Ellie's spine that she barely managed to suppress when his eyes blatantly raked up her body.

"Miss Kerwin," he said in a slow, heavily accented drawl, and gestured to the chair across from his desk. "Please have a seat."

She sat hastily, like a kid who had just been sent to the principle's office, with her purse clutched in her hands on her lap to control the shaking in her arms. "How…" Her voice quavered, so she cleared her throat. Maybe she wouldn't sound as terrified then. "How do you know my name?"

He smirked. It was the look of someone who knew they possessed all the power and was merely placating someone not really worth their time. "Well after the little show you put on with one of my dancers last night," Ellie blushed heatedly at knowing this sleazy man had seen her dancing with Spinner. "And then finding you in his dressing room, I checked the name that had been placed on the list and saw that Jim reserved a seat for you."

She nodded.

"So," he went on, "would I be wrong in assuming that you have more than a passing interest in my dancer?"

Shaking her head, Ellie replied, "No, you wouldn't be wrong."

"What's interesting," Antonelli continued, "is that you two seemed so familiar with one another so quickly. I had an employee of mine do some checking and it turns out that two people with your names went to the same high school right here in Toronto."

A lump formed in Ellie's throat. If he had gotten photos of Jimmy and Ash…

"Would that happen to be you?"

It took several seconds for his words to seep in through Ellie's panic. When it did, she blinked at him several times in surprise before she could speak. He…he didn't' know. Her mind went back to when Spinner said that a hacker had replaced images of Jimmy with his photos. Had they done the same with her? Was it possible that this fabulous hacker had gone back, all the way through high school, and replaced photos of Ash-yearbook, school paper, her class president shots from grade eight even-with pictures of her? She hadn't even gone to Degrassi then. "Yes."

Antonelli leaned forward, elbows on his desk and hands clasped together under his chin. He was digging, she could see it. He was trying to slip her up, get any little thing out of her that he could use to his advantage. "So, where you two…close back then?" The way he said 'close' dripped with innuendo and a grimace threatened to come to her lips. Just being in this guy's presence was enough to make her want to take a shower.

"We knew each other, she said. "But we were never very good friends if that's what you mean."

"It's not," he told her. Reaching into his top desk drawer, he pulled out an envelope and slid it across the desk to her. "But I think that's all I'm going to get out of you."

She picked the envelope up, hearing the sound of something small sliding inside of it. Most definitely not a bribe to keep her away from Spinner. "What is this?"

"Open it."

Sliding the flap open, Ellie saw there was a car inside. She pulled it out and saw that it was actually a key card to a hotel room. "What's this for?"

"Now now, Miss Kerwin, let's not be coy. Anyone with eyes can see that you have a very strong attraction for Jim. Unfortunately, none of my dancers are allowed to date the cliental. You wouldn't want him to lose his job, would you?"

"No," she whispered. Something told her that she knew where this was going. She hadn't worn the wire she'd been given purely because she'd come to the club with the intentions of having a personal conversation with Spinner and didn't want the rest of the police force to hear it. And now here she was, about to get the very thing that they needed to arrest this creep.

He smirked at her, his teeth so white they hurt her eyes. "I thought not. However, in some situations, a compromise can be reached."

"What sort of compromise?" Ellie tried her best to infuse her words with more confidence and less nerves than she actually had.

"If you want to spend some time with Jim, then we'll approach it as a business deal."

"Meaning I pay for him," she said bluntly.

"Exactly."


	8. Chapter 8

…0...

By the time Ellie left Antonelli's office, Spinner was nowhere to be seen. That didn't surprise her, but the note she found under the windshield wiper of her car was. Spinner had gone in the building when she had; when had he put it there?

Upon opening, she found that he hadn't. It was from Officer Simmons explaining that she had called Spin while Ellie had been in with Antonelli. She said that since Ellie hadn't been wearing the wire during the crucial moment, the Lieutenant wanted her to come down to the station as soon as she could.

'_Great.'_

The police station was the last place Ellie wanted to be right then. It was always loud and hectic and full of strange people that frankly, gave her the creeps. And knowing that they knew, or at least assumed, that she had messed up the most important part of the entire operation, had her even more on edge than she'd been since the whole thing started-if that was even possible.

She walked in, pretty much unnoticed by anyone milling around and just stood there, feeling slightly ridiculous, until the cop at the front office finally spotted her. "Can I help you, Miss?"

"I uh," she cleared her throat, "I'm here to see Officer Simmons."

A light turned on behind the man's gray eyes. Ellie groaned inwardly. It didn't take Einstein to figure out that the guy had realized who she was. Spinner had already told her that his stripping was a big joke around the prescient, despite the intended outcome, and that it was common knowledge that she had managed to get herself mixed up in it. The man grinned, looking like he had just realized the punch line of a very naughty joke. He hit a button on his desk without ever looking away from her. She turned around and pretended to look at the bulletin board by the water cooler so the guy would stop looking at her like her was trying to see through her clothes. She had expected a policeman to behave a little better.

"Well, well," a hard, feminine voice said behind her. Ellie whiled around to see Simmons standing there, hands on her hips, and a scowl on her pretty face. "It's about time you showed up."

Ellie grimaced. "I was a little busy being propositioned by a mob boss. So sorry you had to wait."

The officer behind the front desk muffled a laugh, trying to mask it as a cough when Simmons shot a withering look his way.

"The Lieutenant is waiting for you," she told Ellie. She stepped back and motioned for her to follow toward the back of the station where she had come from. "This way."

Ellie pretended she didn't notice the eyes on her from ever direction as she followed the taller woman through the maze of desks and chairs scattered about. No doubt the other officers, like the one at the front, realized who she was and why she was there. She had actually met several of them since Spinner had joined the force; she caught glimpses out of the corners of her eyes of men that had one point tried to flirt with her or called her 'Ma'am' and 'Little Lady' when she would drop by to bring Spin something he'd left at home or lunch when she was in the area. The way they were looking at her now made her feel like one of those scandalous women on the news that everyone stops to stare and whisper about when their high class escort service was busted.

There were three doors at the rear of the building; offices for the Lieutenant, Commissioner and Chief of Police. She knew from several attempts at sound bites that no one was allowed in any of these rooms without a very good reason. Her reporter gene buzzed a bit at finally being allowed inside finally, but her nerves rattling at the eyes on he back significantly drowned them out. Simmons knocked, and a gruff "Come in," was the response.

Ellie had only seen Lieutenant McDalton once; at Spinner's graduation from the Police Academy. His appearance was very grandfatherly with his gray hair and twinkly blue eyes. The only thing that gave away the atrocities that he had seen in his job was the gravely tone in which he spoke of official matters. He motioned for Ellie to sit down when the door opened, and cast a glance at Officer Simmons for her to leave the room over her shoulder. He waited for the sound of the other woman's footsteps to fade away before he spoke.

"I remember you. You were at the graduation," he began. "You sat with Mason's parents and some other people. Judging by the way you hugged him I never would have imagined you would involve yourself in his job. I just thought you were a friend."

"Spinner has been my friend for years," she said hurriedly. No matter what anyone else thought about her and Spinner and this case, she would not allow anybody to cast shadows on their friendship. "I would never do anything to jeopardize his work. I was at Haze for a story of my own. It had nothing to do with him."

"A story?"

Ellie nodded. "I write for the Core." She ignored his groan at her admission and plowed ahead. "I got a tip about underage workers at the bar…I went down there just to look around. I had no idea that it was a strip club or that Spin's undercover assignment had him working there. It really was a big coincidence. And then he told me what was going on and that Officer Simmons had seen us talking there…I was only trying to help."

"Help." He chuckled, spinning in his chair to look out the window behind his desk that overlooked a vacant lot behind the station and a small stream along the edge of the property. "Your brand of help, Miss Nash, has put this entire operation in very real danger of collapsing. It took months to set up Mason's cover and get the necessary documentation in place. We're just lucky our tech guys are good enough that yours wasn't as lengthy a process." Ellie squirmed at the unvoiced accusation. "So the information I received an hour ago that you were seen in the parking lot with Mason before you both went inside-without the wire you were instructed just this morning to wear at all times until this was over-was not very welcome."

He turned his chair back around and stared dead at her, making her want to look away. But she knew she couldn't without seeming incompetent. "You want to spend your time playing Lois Lane, Miss Nash, that's our business. But you involved yourself in my investigation and could very well have ruined the whole thing. So what are you planning to do to help make it right?"

Ellie ignored the question; instead option to focus on what would keep her out of the focus-at least for a few seconds. "We were seen? By who?"

Subtlety had never been Ellie's strong suit, she knew that. And the way McDalton smiled at her placatingly told her that he was well aware of the fact. "The minute you became part of Mason's case your safety and reliability became paramount. There's been a plainclothes officer following you ever since."

"What?!" Sinking back against her chair, Ellie wondered of all the things that had been happening that could have been overseen by someone she hadn't even known was looking. Did he look in the window? Had the little moments between her and Spinner-the innocent ones and the not so innocent-been observed? Did Spinner know? Suddenly the dance on the Haze stage didn't really seem like that big a deal anymore.

"No need for hysterics," he said. "It was merely for precautions. Nothing that wasn't related to the case was part of it-you have my word."

That made her feel somewhat better. At least her privacy hadn't been totally compromised. But there was still the subject of how to fix the situation. "Thanks…I guess," she said. "And I'm sorry about this morning. I asked Spinner to meet me so I could tell him I wanted out. I was going to give him the wire back; that's why I wasn't wearing it."

It took Ellie a second to realize that the shaking of McDalton's head meant that he was telling her no. As in no, she wasn't quitting.

"I'm sorry, Miss Nash, but you and Mason set up a very buyable story. Obviously Antonelli believes what you two have been selling if he approached you. I'm assuming he said something about a monetary arrangement?"

Ellie nodded, a blush rising high in her cheeks. As if the idea of Spinner as her hooker wasn't embarrassing enough…now his boss was talking about it. H-he…he gave me a key to a hotel room at the Grand. And his business card so I can call him when I make up m mind. He gave me until seven to make up my mind."

McDalton bobbed his head in thought. Ellie could have sworn she could hear the wheels turning in his head. The wall clock tick-ticked away on the wall, and she wrung her hands in impatience, praying to whoever that he wasn't about to say what she thought he was going to say. There was no way she could handle being confined in a hotel room with Spinner-not now. Things were still too…charged between them yet to tempt it.

Well…they were on her end.

"He'd be the one to set things up with Mason, right?"

Ellie nodded. That was how it had been explained to her at any rate.

The Lieutenant stood, tapping his fingers together while working things out in his head. For a moment she felt like she was in the principle's office waiting for her punishment. "Here's what we'll do. Mason will wear a wire when Antonelli approaches him. He goes on at six usually. That gives him enough time to get dressed before you call Antonelli and tell him you're interested. Once he gets to the hotel room and you give the money, that's it. We'll have the tape, your word that Antonelli set it all up-we'll have him nailed. Sound good."

Her heart had dropped at the mention of them in the hotel room, but she agreed any way. What other choice did she have? "Yeah. It sounds great."

…0...

The Grand Hotel was one of the poshest and most exclusive in Toronto. Ellie walked in to the suite about ten minutes before eight o'clock. She looked around, not really seeing the gorgeous furnishings that no doubt cost more than the entirety of the house she shared with Spin and Marco, but instead all she saw was the champagne on ice and the bed. The big bed. The big bed with the pile of pillows and turned down sheets.

She gulped.

She decided at the last minute to wear her own wire, just as an added precaution. It had taken her forever to hide it under her dress and still it was noticeable without her coat. At least Spinner wouldn't care about it. The dress, however, was another story.

Ellie had figured it was best to look like she was actually there for a romantic rendezvous should any of Antonelli's guards happen to be wandering around to keep an eye on them. So she had opted for the stilettos from the other night and her best dress. She had only worn it once before, to Spinner's graduation the year before and remembered him telling her that it looked good on her. The fabric was a little too clingy to hide the wire and recorder without her dress coat, it being silk, but the dark blue did a little to camouflage it, and she had placed the small box that transmitted the recording on her side, underneath the tie that kept her dress fastened.

She only hoped that it did as adequate a job at hiding the butterflies fluttering about in her stomach.

Putting her purse on the night table, Ellie looked warily at the bed, feeling her face grow hot. They wouldn't be using it of course, but the atmosphere, every furnishing in fact, seemed to be designed to be romantic and sensual-like the room expected them to have sex. Her purse fell over onto the floor-with her nerves she couldn't have set it down securely. She bent to pick it up and a tiny light caught her eye. She straightened and looked around, trying to determine where it had come from. Bent down like that, the only thing that could have caught her eye at the right angle was the top corner of the heating vent. Pretending to stretch her arms, Ellie stood up on her tiptoes and squinted her eyes like she was tired. Another flash.

A camera. Aimed directly at the bed.

Her stomach dropped, and her palms beginning to sweat. A camera had not been part of the deal. There was no doubt whatsoever that it had been Antonelli that had placed it there-she doubted the hotel staff would hide cameras in the vent to spy on their guests. Unless there was a kinky janitor or something on staff, it had to be him. Or perhaps the police. But had she told any one the room number? She didn't think so.

Ellie's first instinct was to run, but that wasn't possible. So she settled for the next best thing; the bathroom. She felt it was very likely that she was going to be sick. That she could at least pass off as nerves at the situation if indeed she were being watched. Now what was she supposed to do?

One thing she couldn't do was stay in the bathroom. Spinner would there any second, ready to take the Police Department funded money for his 'services' so they could leave. That was out the window now. Ellie began pacing nervously around the hotel suite, wringing her hands, and chewing on her bottom lip. The thought that Spinner was on his way there, and that they were going to have to put on a show for some skeezy mob boss via video feed, was making her want to jump out of her skin. This was not what she had signed up for.

The soft snick of the door jamb drew her attention and her head shot up to see Spinner walking hesitantly into the room. He caught her eye and smiled at her. "Hey."

"Hey."

His manner put to rest the thought that maybe the camera was police issue. There was no possibility that he knew; the easy way he swaggered towards her, his face just like any other time they were together, put to rest any idea that he had any knowledge they were being watched.

And there was still a show to be put on.

When Spinner was close enough for her to touch him without lunging, Ellie snaked a hand around to the back of his neck and hauled his mouth down to hers. He froze in surprise for a second before his hands slid around her back. He kissed her back, moving his lips over hers skillfully. Ellie gripped at his shoulders to keep upright. She hadn't been prepared before she kissed him and now the full weight of the past few days began to brake over her.

Spinner's hands skimmed up her spine, tangling in her hair, and he began walking her back towards the bed. Kicking her shoes off along the way, she stepped slowly so as not to trip as her hands slid underneath Spinner's shirt. The back of her knees hit the bed and he began the process of laying her down. That was when she remembered that there was a video camera pointed right at that very bed. Ellie set her feet firmly, resisting Spinner's weight and pulled her lips away from his. They were both gasping, faces flushed, and his dark eyes were almost black as they gazed at her in confusion. Not that she could blame him for not understanding. Them coming to the room was originally meant to be a cover. Then she had all but pounced on him when he walked in, making him think they were indeed about to try out the bed. And now she had stopped. Just thinking about it was enough to make her head twirl; she could only imagine what was going through his mind. Kissing him again softly, she moved her lips over to his ear and whispered, "There's a camera."

His grip tightened on her hips and she felt the muscles tense in his back under her hands. She felt him nod slightly in understanding and he angled his head down to press his mouth to her neck. A small noise of surprise spilled out of her mouth and she tilted her head back to give him better access. He took advantage of the skin presented to him and moved his lips along her throat while Ellie's hands traveled along his shoulders under the thin cotton of his shirt.

Ellie moved back onto the bed, on her knees, and moved her hands to Spinner's top button, working it through the tiny hole with shaking hands. He raised his head up to watch her, his hands on her arms reassuringly while her fingers worked their way downward. For a second, she wished he was still wearing the tee shirt he'd had on earlier. It would have been much simpler, but maybe Antonelli had instructed him to dress nice. Once all the buttons were undone, she pushed the fabric off his shoulders and down his arms.

He began rubbing his palms up and down her arms to soothe her. Smiling at him weakly, Ellie was glad-for more than one reason-that it was Spinner in the situation with her. No matter what happened, she knew he wasn't about to let anything happen to her. And she wouldn't trade that sense of safety and familiarity for the world.

His shirt floated to the floor, the fabric making a soft rustling sound that made her pulse speed up. Leaning closer so that her entire world consisted of his eyes boring into hers, Spinner touched his lips lightly to Ellie's. Unlike the previous times they'd kissed, there was nothing rushed or heated about it. The touch was soft, sweet, delicate almost. A whimper came out, but from which of them it emanated, neither knew.

Falling backwards onto the bed wasn't a conscious decision. Not for Ellie. It was a thought yes, but not a decision. But she wasn't resisting, so she couldn't complain and there were so many thoughts running through her head that she felt a little drunk. Then she felt the press of Spinner's hand on her leg, right below where her skirt ended with her leg raised slightly, moving slowly upwards and all of those thoughts just floated away.

"Ellie," he groaned in her ear, causing her to shiver and press closer to him, tangling her fingers in his hair.

His fingers slid over her stomach, finding the tie that kept her wrap dress wrapped and tugged hard. It wasn't until he almost had the entire thing undone that she realized he was about to expose the wire to the camera. "Wait."

All of his movements stopped at once, save for the rapid heaving of his chest caused by his panting. The grip of his hands on her skin was deathly, near desperate, and it felt like it was taking every ounce of strength he possessed to look up at her. "What's wrong?"

There was a camera, but she didn't know if there was sound. It wasn't as if she could say that she wasn't into giving a free show or revealing them to be undercover. She licked her lips, pushed a stray lock of hair off his sweaty forehead, and opened her mouth to try and explain.

Only to be interrupted by the fire alarm going off.

"You've got to be kidding me," Spinner mumbled, his head dropping to the crook of her shoulder. "I guess we gotta get out of here."

"I suppose so," she smiled weakly.

They redressed hurriedly and left the room to join the confused mass swarming the hall toward the stairs. Spinner kept hold of her hand down all nine flights to the sidewalk, squeezing every so often to reassure her, she assumed.

If only it were that simple

…0...


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Here it is; the final chapter. Hope everyone who read this little bit of insanity enjoyed it and I appreciate you taking the time. **_

_**And in case anyone's interested, I wrote this on four hours of sleep. Yeah.**_

…0...

When they found out, via hotel management, that the fire alarm had been pulled by two kids that snuck out of their room after their parents feel asleep the entirety of the hundred plus crowd groaned before making their way back toward their rooms.

Ellie waited for Spinner by the front door. His phone had begun ringing not two minutes after they were safely outside. He had a scowl on his face, a large one, that she could see even from where he stood at the other end of the hotel's driveway. She gnawed on her cuticle while se watched him, hoping that his bad mood had more to do with his current conversation and not what had happened between them upstairs.

Him flipping his phone shut and running a hand along the back of his neck in frustration had her going back outside to check on him. "What's wrong?"

"Antonelli." Spinner held his phone up to exaggerate his point. "He said he heard there was an alarm pulled and wanted to make sure we were both okay."

She snorted. "You could almost think he was a decent person if there weren't so much proof he's a disgusting perv."

Spinner sank down onto the curb of the sidewalk, propped his elbows on his knees, and dropped his head into his hands. Ellie watched his shoulders rise and fall with the deep breaths he took. She sat carefully beside him, making sure her skirt wasn't askew, and placed a tentative hand on his arm. "Spinner?"

"He knew, Ellie," he whispered. "He knew what was going on because he was watching us up there. That…that twisted…he set this whole thing up with the intention of sitting back and watching us have sex."

Queasiness washed over her. She knew that-had known that-and for a second had ignored it. Because she wanted him. The only thing that had stopped her was her wire.

Speaking of…

Discreetly, Ellie fumbled around with the buttons through the thin material of her dress and turned it off. The guys listening in at the station didn't need to hear their conversation. "Spin, there's something else going on here. I can see it. Please tell me."

He looked up, but not at her. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I shouldn't have done that, Ellie. I'm sorry."

"Done what?" She felt her brow wrinkle in confusion, felt Spinner's arm tense under her hand.

His eyes finally met hers, softer than she had seen them in longer than she could remember. A vague fluttery feeling flitted about in her chest. She hadn't felt anything like it since the first time she had seen Marco when she was fourteen. Butterflies.

Ellie was feeling butterflies with Spinner, on a downtown sidewalk, after having just escaped a mob arranged hotel tryst. When had her life gone so topsy-turvy?

She figured it must have been around the time that the very distracting lust turned into the even scarier butterflies.

"You know," he said. A hint of pink colored his cheeks that, despite the current situation, she found completely adorable. "Upstairs. I'm on duty, this is a case, you're a friend. I just…I shouldn't have tried to take advantage of the situation that way."

Ellie smiled, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "In case you missed it," she told him, "you weren't the only one up in that room. And I kissed you first-because I wanted to. I started it."

A wicked smirk spread over his face. Reminiscent of the Spinner she had first met, it made his eyes darken and twinkle, pushing all the guilt off his face. "Yeah. You did." He leaned his face toward her and lowered his voice. "Not that I'm complaining."

She blushed, smacking at his shoulder. This was the Spinner she knew. The one she knew how to deal with. No that it helped the fluttering subside any. "Spin…I…" With a deep breath, she leaned in and touched her lips lightly to his. "I'm not sorry. And I like you. As in, a lot. Not like a friend either." A huge grin split his face, prompting a matching one to come to her own. He tilted his head closer to her, but she pulled back just enough to stop him. "Maybe we shouldn't. Until after this whole mess is over," she added hurriedly.

"Define over." Spinner brushed a stray lock of hair back from her face, smiling a lazy that reminded her of the old movies she used to watch on late night TV with her grandmother. "As in arrest over or trial over?"

Taking her bottom lip between her teeth, Ellie hesitated. She had to phrase it just right or it would sound like she didn't want to pursue what was going on between them. "Would you be upset if I said after the trial?"

His mouth dropped opened a bit. "After?"

"It's not how it sounds," Ellie assured him. "We're going to have to testify, right?" Spinner nodded. "Well…say I get up there and testify. They're going to ask me about our relationship and how I got involved in this. What sounds like a more credible witness," she asked, "I'm your friend who ran into you by accident and wanted to help-or I'm the girl you're sleeping with?"

Nodding his head, Spinner laid a hand over hers on his arm. "I get it. I'm not happy about it, but I get it."

His hand fell away from hers. He had folded his hands together in front of him, but Ellie decided that if they couldn't have everything just yet, they could at least have a little bit right now. She let her palm slide down his arm and over his joined hands, running a finger over his knuckles until he turned one hand over and she slid her fingers through his. She snuggled into him, resting her cheek on his shoulder, and sighed deeply in contentment.

"You do realize that Marco is going to flip over this, right?" Spinner commented a few moments later as he idly played with her fingers.

"Yeah," she added, "about that…I sort of…already told him. About me at least."

"What did you say exactly?" he asked.

"Nothing that you should be worried about. But…there is something I need to tell you."

Spinner's fingers stopped moving. He didn't release her hand however. Merely squeezed them tighter and prompted her to continue. "I um…well, I," she stuttered. "I lied to you. Kind of."

"You kind of lied?" he asked, disbelief falling from his words. "How do you kind of lie?"

A heavy flush spread over her cheeks. She should have been used to it, she figured, after the consistent awkward situations they had been thrown into during the whole ordeal. After all, Spinner had drug up on to a strip club stage to dance-and rather sexily at that-not to mention slid a hand up her dress in front of Antonelli, and yet this was harder than all of that. "That night I put the bug in you dressing room…I told you that I didn't find out anything worth using?"

"Yeah?"

"I may have been wrong." She looked down at their hands, still clasped together and held her breath for his reaction.

Five seconds. Ten. And still he said nothing. Then she heard a snort and felt him moving ever so slightly beside her. She looked up to see his shoulders shaking with laughter, face contorted with restrained laughter.

"It's not funny!" she insisted. "This whole thing could have been over already. I've have him on tape saying that I'd have to pay for you if I wanted any action for days now! This is not funny!"

He leaned back, laughing openly while she huffed beside him. "Oh…Ellie. I'm sorry, but it is a little funny."

"How exactly do you see that?"

Once he had composed himself, he draped an arm around her slim shoulders and pulled her back against him. "Between the two of us, we have enough on tape to nail him and instead we've been too worried about nailing each other to figure it out."

"Spinner!" she whacked him in the stomach, face flaming. "Nailing? Nice."

"I'm right," he replied. "You wanted me. Admit it."

Ellie pursed her lips, turning her face away from him and his teasing. "Don't you have an arrest to make?"

Spinner pulled away and removed his arm from around her. "Fine, fine. Deny it all you want. Can I have your wire please? Or is it at home? And the tape."

"The tape is at home," she said. "But the wire is right here. Although I can't really take it off out here."

His eyes raked her up and down shamelessly, an innocent expression plastered on his face. "I wouldn't mind."

"I'm sure you wouldn't. Now go."

…0...

"That," Ellie groaned, "was the most irritating man I have ever met in my life."

Spinner unlocked the front door, holding the door open for her to walk through. "Of course he was irritating; he's a lawyer."

Once Spinner collected the tape Ellie had made from the microphone in his dressing room and the wire she was wearing, it had taken less than four hours to get the warrant and haul Antonelli down to lockup. He'd made sure to call Ellie on the way to the station, figuring she'd want to be there to get the full scoop for her article.

The best part had been the quick photo she'd snapped when Spinner had brought him in and saw her standing there wearing her press pass. The front page article-complete with photo-had been her best story yet and now hung over their mantle, a gift from Marco.

"If he's taking the deal, then what was the point of his even being there for our testimonies? It didn't help matter any. And that defense attorney was a total ass." Ellie sat her purse down on the front table, and peeled off the jacket of her suit. Summer had reached Toronto and she was sweltering just from the ride home from the courthouse.

"That's why he's well paid. Look at it this way, he's in jail, you're Editor, and I'm an official detective. It all could have gone a lot worse," he took of his uniform issue hat and laid it beside her purse. "Marco? You home?"

They wandered through the house looking for their third roommate. The plan was to go out for dinner to celebrate it all being over. Footsteps sounded on the stairs finally and they looked up to see him walking down with a small duffel bag in his hand.

"You going somewhere?" Spinner asked.

"My ma's birthday is tomorrow. I'm gonna stay over there tonight," he explained.

Ellie pushed her lower lip out in a pout. "What about dinner?"

Marco chuckled, shaking his head. "Oh no. I've had to sit through dinner with you two for the last three months and watch you guys flirt more than you eat. Not to mention breakfast, lunch, pretty much every time you're within ten feet of each other. I'm taking the night off. "

Glancing at each other in surprise, they simultaneously said, "What?"

"We're not that bad," Ellie declared. She stopped, thought about it and turned back to Spinner. "Are we?"

"I didn't think so," he muttered.

Opening the front door, Marco threw a look over his shoulder at his roommates and nodded. "You are. But I believe you said you'd resolve all this once the trial was over, right? Well, it's over. And the medicine cabinet is fully stocked. Have fun."

Glancing from the front door to Ellie's beet red face, Spinner's brow wrinkled in confusion. "I don't get it."

"I do," she assured him. Taking her thumb into her mouth, Ellie began pacing around the living room, obviously lost in thought and mumbling under her breath.

Spinner stopped her with his hands on either shoulder. "Uh, El, what are you doing?"

She licked her lips, and squared her shoulders. "Spin, Marco's right. We've been putting this off just because of the trial, right?"

He nodded. "Right."

"And we've been out together enough times so we could say we're technically dating if we wanted to. Right?"

Again, Spinner bobbed his head up and down.

Ellie kicked her shoes off, loosing about three inches in height and now barely reaching the underside of his chin. "So then I wouldn't be too forward in telling you that I don't want to go to dinner tonight?"

"Then," he said slowly, "what do you want to do?"

With a deep breath, and even more color in her cheeks, Ellie lowered her eyes in embarrassment-mainly at her own boldness-and then glanced back up at him through lowered lashes. "I want to go to bed."

He looked, to put it mildly, thoroughly befuzzled. That was the first word that popped into her head. And it was accurate. "Bed? But it's not even three o'clock. Why would you want to-"

His words were cut off when Ellie placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him, pressing as close to him as she could. She pulled away to see him stunned and open mouthed. The haze he was in seemed to lift and his mouth curved upwards into a huge grin that made her collapse into giggles, burying her face into his chest.

"Oh," he said. "Oh. Okay then." She felt his hands go to her shoulders, pulling back from her just enough to bend quickly, hands going behind her legs and back, and swooped her up into his arms.

"What are you doing? This isn't some cheesy romance novel. We-" Ellie's got a taste of her own medicine when Spinner bent his head and captured her lips while walking. He banged into the stair case, staggering a smidge, and mumbled a curse against her lips.

"Are you okay?" Ellie ran her hand through the hair on the back of his neck tenderly, running the other one across his cheek.

"Yeah."

She whacked his arm, making him sputter indignantly. "You better be more careful. I happen to have something invested in that body of yours now and don't want you to hurt yourself."

His quirked an eyebrow at her. Her words seemed to have puzzled him for a minute. He stopped outside her bedroom door and pulled her closer, knuckling he neck. "Oh really?"

"Yes. And I mean it," she declared. "In case you forgot, I paid quite a bit for you once, and I'd like to get my money's worth." She smiled cheekily, her tongue poking through her teeth.

"I think I can manage that." He walked into her room, slamming the door behind him with his foot. "But…what did Marco mean by that medicine cabinet comment?"

"Why don't I show you."

…0...


End file.
